Terms & Conditions - Equine

1. Our Commitment to You – Bishopton Equine Veterinary Services Ltd is a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons accredited Equine General Practice and is committed to providing the highest standard of veterinary care and treatment for your horse. Where we cannot quickly diagnose and treat the cause of your horse’s problems, we aim to refer your horse as quickly as possible. This may mean internal referral to other members of the team with particular interests, referral to our visiting specialists or external referral to centres of excellence within the UK.
2. Fees – All fees, consumables and drug charges are subject to VAT at the current rate. Fee rates are determined by the time spent on a case and according to the drugs, materials and consumables used. Details of our fees are available on request, and a detailed invoice is provided for every consultation, procedure or transaction.Estimates will be provided upon request.
3. Settlement Terms – New clients are required to pay in advance or at the time of visit, either by cash or debit/credit card, for goods or services until an account with us has been opened and approved. We reserve the right to verify all new clients’ credit rating with a credit reference agency. Any client not wishing us to perform credit checks should advise us to this effect and payment will continue to be due at the time of treatment.Accounts will be processed and invoices issued at the end of every month. Payment is requested within 25 days of the invoice date. In the event of non payment within one month, further reminders will be sent for which administration charges will be added to the account, and these will accumulate if the debt remains unpaid.
4. Methods of Payment – Your account may be settled using cash, cheques with a current banker’s card, credit or debit card or BACS transfer.
5. Equine Health Insurance – We support the principle of insuring your horse against injury or illness.Insurance is a great relief to many clients as it will provide some financial support should their horse become unexpectedly ill. We endeavour to process your claim forms rapidly but it remains your responsibility to liaise with the insurance company over the processing of the claim. We do not currently make a charge for completing standard insurance claim forms. The responsibility for the debt incurred with Bishopton Equine Veterinary Services Ltd remains yours, even for insured animals.
6. Complaints – Whilst we hope that our service does not give you cause for complaint, however if you do wish to complain please contact any Director.
7. Prescriptions – We are able to provide you with all the medication your horse will need without recourse to a prescription. Any urgent medication be given to you at the time of the consultation. Alternatively we will arrange for medication to be dropped off at your yard or picked up from any one of our premises. Written prescriptions are available upon request at a cost of£15 incl VAT (price correct April 2016).
8. Ownership of Records – Case records, radiographs, ultrasound images and similar documents are the property of and will be retained by Bishopton Equine Veterinary Services Ltd. Upon request, copies of the records and your horse’s history can be passed onto another veterinary surgeon.
9. Overdue Accounts – Overdue sums will be subject to further administration charges, including a monthly fee of £25.00 to be added to outstanding accounts after 1 month. Clients who fail to make satisfactory payments with ourselves will be placed on a bad debt list and will be referred to our solicitors. They may be subject to County Court action where they may have a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against them. Such action will involve additional costs whilst collecting the debt. Clients who persistently fail to settle their invoices with us will be given notice of our intention to no longer carry out their clinical work.
10. Variation in Terms and Conditions of Business – No addition or variation of those conditions will bind the Company unless specifically agreed in writing by the Company’s Directors. Additionally, no agent or person employed by or under contract with the Company has the authority to vary these terms and conditions in any way